Aygo Broken Down - Any Suggestions

[Ambriel]

Just had a call from the wife to say her Aygo has broken down in the middle of nowhere.

Recovery has been called but because of where she is they want to take it to a garage that'll be on the wrong side of Scotland.

She said that the dashboard lights were flashing and the speedo waving around. When she pulled up it continued so she turned it off. Now it won't start again.

Just as luck would have it, my own car is in the garage at the moment having new wheel bearings fitted so I can't go out to her. I've told her to tell the garage to bring both her and the car back here to home where at least I can put a fault code reader on it before deciding how to get it to our usual garage if its nothing simple.

So, just on the off-chance, has anyone seen anything like this before?

Just as a bit of extra information, it had a new clutch fitted a couple of days ago but I can't see how that's likely to be involved.

Cheers

Gary

[Unklian]

First thought without much info......

Battery terminal(s) not replaced correctly after clutch work?

Ian.

[Raistlin]

It happened to me, the original Battery would not charge and when it began to fail I had the same symptom's.

Mr RAC fitted me with a nice new Bosch one and all was well

[Ambriel]

I really hope you're right, guys, and that it's simple to fix.

I know the description of the fault is a bit vague but the car's still on the back of a lorry, somewhere up in the mountains...

Cheers

Gary

[Ambriel]

OK so the casualty arrived back here about half an hour ago. We got it into the barn and I put the OBD2 fault reader on it.

Only fault listed was P0140 which is the downstream lambda sensor which has been playing up for ages. I just keep resetting it.

I took this to be a good sign that nothing expensive had been fried.

Dashboard lights were looking normal so we turned the key and she started up with no flashing lights or anything. Hmmm..

Lifted the bonnet and checked the Battery terminal clamps but they were tight.

Pulled the Battery and put it on charge and it immediately started drawing 5 amps.

A quick shufty round the auxilary drive belt revealed quite a lot of slack. Hmmmm....

So, either the alternator is on the way out or the belt is slipping. Either way it looks like it's not delivering enough current to keep the Battery in tip-top condition. It probably recovered enough during its little ride on the truck to start again when it got here but would probably have conked out again soon after.

I've left the battery on charge overnight and will tighten up the belt in the morning.

I think I'll order-in a new battery, too, just in case. Hopefully the alternator isn't poorly as I expect that will be quite expensive, and a !Removed! to change.

Thanks for the pointers towards the battery - you had it spot-on.

Cheers!

Gary

[Raistlin]

He shots, he scores...

[Valvematic]

Think the belt should be changed at 60k.

[Ambriel]

Yes, the belt looks to be in decent condition but I may as well put a new one on it while I've got it in the barn.

"It sounds a bit rattly, too", she said. Not surprising when the oil level barely registers on the dipstick! Much quieter again now. :)